Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 2
2 Corinthians 2:10-11 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
When we do not forgive it is a device that Satan uses to get an advantage upon us. As the enemy, Satan is always devising war strategy to try and defeat the Church and her mission. The Greek word translated ‘advantage’ means to make a gain. When you do not forgive, two things happen.
First, you are out of fellowship with the Father. Jesus teaches us:
Matthew 6:14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
This does not mean that you are no longer saved. Neither does this mean that you must perform the work of forgiving everyone in order to be saved. We are saved eternally be faith alone in Christ alone because of God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). This means that when you refuse to forgive, you are out of fellowship with the Father. Your close walk with him is interrupted. You are requiring something of someone else that God is not requiring of you. When you refuse to forgive, you are saying that you demand to be repaid when you have had the greatest debt in the world forgiven – your sin.
Second, when you refuse to forgive, you are open to the attack of Satan. A military strategy is to cut someone off from their supply lines or their source. When Satan sees the refusal to forgive in you, he sees that you are isolated and he can attack with greater fervor. You give him an opening to attack because you are isolating yourself from the Father.
Many times when we do not forgive others it is associated with anger or wrath. The Bible says:
Ephesians 4:26-27 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.
When you harbor anger and refuse forgive others, you give a place for the devil to attack.
So how do we forgive? Paul said he was able to forgive in the person of Christ. In other words he forgave as he was in Christ or empowered by Christ to forgive. The Bible sums it up well:
Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
God has forgiven you because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. You can forgive because you are forgiven. Don’t let Satan have the advantage! Forgive!
In Christ,
Rody
